Inmates can only be taken off suicide watch by a Bureau of Prisons psychologist after a face-to-face evaluation, a letter states

Published Aug 24, 2019 at 7:11 PM

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In this May 18, 2005, file photo, Jeffrey Epstein attends the launch of Radar Magazine at Hotel QT.

Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire financier who died by suicide while in federal jail on sex-trafficking charges, had been taken off suicide watch by a doctoral-level psychologist, the Justice Department said in a letter to Congress.

Epstein, 66, died Aug. 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, NBC News reports. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.

He had been placed on suicide watch in July after he was found in his cell semiconscious with marks on his neck.

But he "was later removed from suicide watch after being evaluated by a doctoral-level psychologist who determined that a suicide watch was no longer warranted," the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to the House Judiciary Committee's chairman, Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and its ranking member, Doug Collins, R-Ga.